Last of five pleads guilty in medical ID theft tax fraud

The last of five people accused of tax refund fraud involving identity theft from medical records pleaded guilty Friday for his role in the scheme, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer said.

Michael Ali Bryant, Sr., 41, of Lauderdale Lakes, faces up to 12 years in prison at his sentencing scheduled in April, prosecutors said.

A confidential informant approached Bryant to buy drugs through Bryant's connection to a medical service provider. Bryant said he had no access to any drugs but he could sell medical records containing the personal information of hundreds of patients that could be used to file fraudulent income tax returns, according to court documents.

Bryant sold the source 10 pages with up to 25 names on each and gave specific instructions on how to file the tax returns online to get tax refunds in the patients' names without their knowledge, the court records showed.

An Internal Revenue Service investigation identified 226 false claims totaling $775,879 that were linked to Michael Bryant. Of the false claims filed, 78 refunds were paid costing the IRS $221,576.

Angela Dione Rosier, 41, of Coral Springs, worked for the medical service provider and had access to the database of thousands of patients that found its way to Bryant, investigators said.

Tiffany Shenae Cooper, 33, of Deerfield Beach, actually persuaded Rosier to give her the names and passwords of fellow employees, record showed.

Cooper admitted to using the employee passwords to illegally log on to the medical services provider's computer network to download patient information for various types of fraud, prosecutors said.

After pleading guilty, Rosier and Cooper were scheduled to be sentenced in February. Moye and Latina Bryant were set for sentencing in March. They each face between two and 12 years in prison, prosecutors said.